Civil Unions For All!

Best solution to the Hawaii conumdrum on civil unions and same sex marriage would be to adopt a totally "civil" approach. I believe France does this. "Marriage" would be a totally religious status, and various religious denominations would have total freedom to marry or not marry who they see fit. For example, they could refuse to re-marry a divorced person (shades of Henry VIII and Catherine Aragon). However, to get any benefits such as joint filing of income taxes a couple would have to register as a "civil union" with the state. This might even solve the Proposition 8 type dilema, since "marriage" would confer no special status available only to heterosexuals. However, the history of discrimination is that people enjoy having special status over others. It empowers them. Despite the lip service paid to equality in this country, Americans actually hate the thought of being equal, especially with people they have been trained since childhood to mock, bully and despise. Opponents of HR444 seem to believe they have a point when they say it would force schools to teach children that LGBT relationships are acceptable and that LGBT children should be able to look forward to loving relationships someday with members of their own sex. Yeah! Duh! That is exactly the point. Children must be taught to hate...